A&E

Daily Postcard: A male Black-headed Grosbeak sits in a boxelder tree at Bandelier. Courtesy/NPS Read More

Daily Postcard: The chances of being hunted by a pika are low, but never zero. Pikas are found in small, isolated colonies at the higher elevations of Bandelier National Monument. They live in volcanic boulder fields where they retreat to tunnels under the rocks for shelter and protection. They don’t hibernate. Instead, they stay active all winter long traveling in tunnels under the rocks and snow. Deep blankets of snow are important in helping pikas survive. If the snow is deep enough it provides insulation for the pikas living below. Too little snow and the pikas risk freezing to death. Read More

Daily Postcard: Well here’s another rare one. It’s very unusual to see any butterfly in January (in Los Alamos anyway), but on top of that this species has only been recorded here a handful of times. This is a question mark (yes that’s the name!) Polygonia interrogationis spotted flying around during the warm afternoon Tuesday. It was on Iris Street near the YMCA. Question marks and other butterflies overwinter in dead leaves on the ground, another reason to let the leaves lay there until mid-May. This one landed right in the photographer’s hand. Photo by Michael Smith

A question mark butterfly Read More

Petra a barn cat relaxes peacefully with a chicken recently at a farm in the beautiful Española Valley. Photo by Liddie Martinez

Barn cat Petra rests in the nest of a chicken coop recently at a farm in the beautiful Española Valley. Photo by Liddie Martinez

Barn cat Petra lounges next to a chicken recently at a farm in the beautiful Española Valley. Photo by Liddie Martinez

Part of a flock of 30 chickens that have adopted a barn cat as one of their own recently at a farm in the beautiful Española Valley. Photo by Liddie Martinez Read More

Daily Postcard: A Cooper’s Hawk returns to visit the backyard of a residence Monday in Pajarito Acres in White Rock. Cooper’s Hawks fly with a flap-flap-glide pattern typical of accipiters. Even when crossing large open areas they rarely flap continuously. An attack maneuver is to fly fast and low to the ground, then up and over an obstruction to surprise prey on the other side.Cooper’s Hawks from western North America are substantially smaller (weighing around one-fifth less) than birds in the East. Source: allaboutbirds.org. Photo by Nancy Bartlit Read More

Daily Postcard: An argument breaks out between two Cranes over a small patch of grain in December at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, NM is an important wintering ground for vast flocks of Sandhill Cranes. Standing 4-feet-tall with wingspans of 7-and-a-half feet, these birds are the stars of the Refuge’s annual Festival of the Cranes celebration. The birds spend summers as far away as Alaska, northwest Canada, and the Pacific Northwest. Their migration through New Mexico follows the Rio Grande corridor. Overlook Read More